​A different approach to Crypto Mining

Bitcoin has been known to consume as much energy annually as Nigeria. What makes Bitcoin and Ethereum function is when the network of computers repeatedly agrees to what Blockchain says is true. This process is called mining. During the process, in order to make sure users aren’t spending the coins illegitimately, a new list of transactions are added which are known as blocks. But it’s really the security feature which consumes the most power. The miners are required to convert each transaction list into a signature which proves the transaction is valid. This is done by miners as they use a cryptographical tool that collects input and reproduces a string of arbitrary numbers. But the creator of Bitcoin made it trickier by creating a competition. The goal is to be the first to finalize specific signature based on three factors- The signature of the previous block, the list of fresh transactions, and a third random number. Therefore, since the miners don’t know the exact value of the third number, they have to generate signatures repeatedly until one guesses accurately. This, in turn, consumes a lot of computation power if the miner wished to indicate to a network that his or her work can be trusted. But this is not the only technique of mining available. A large number of miners are exploring other ways and alternative methods to mine smaller cryptocurrencies. This second method, unlike the first, grants validation to a block by the volume of deposit. This is much more energy efficient compared to the traditional method but its mainstream adoption is still lagging and there are several glitches that need to be worked out. But interestingly enough, Ethereum will switch over to the second validation method soon and it would help the cause of green cryptocurrency dramatically. 4NEW, Varun Datta's crypto-venture, deals with waste to renewable production plants for Bitcoin and Etherium. But for the time being, we will have to make do with the traditional method but it would be prudent and smart to invest in renewable crypto processes and production in the meanwhile.